TransFormA is a community of transgender people working to improve the rights of transgender people and their dignified representation. The original idea for establishing this initiative is bringing the transgender people together to act jointly in terms of recognition of this community, legal recognition of gender and social acceptance.
The beginnings of TransFormA are in the premises of the Coalition MARGINS in 2011. Initial meetings are used to socialize and map out the problems and needs of this marginalized group. Then known only as the “trans group”, these people, through their contacts with other civic organizations and supporters, begin to create videos, small handbooks and promotional materials that will benefit everyone in the community. The group also has its own development phase within the LGBTI Support Center, in the form of a trans support group. This is where contacts and trainings with psychologists, psychiatrists, as well as representatives of medical teams and activist groups from Belgrade begin.
Since 2014, this group has been operating without its home location. However, it is active through the continued cooperation with the Coalition MARGINS on preparing various analyzes, researches and other types of promotional materials. TransFormA works on creating informal network of activist-oriented people and medical professionals of various specialties, where all transgender people can have access to health services without being judged and discriminated.
In 2018, TransFormA with the help of the Coalition Margins receives its first project from the Global Fund, through ECOM – the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health. Many educational workshops, communication skills training, advocacy training, etc., are being implemented through this project. The trans community is increasingly present at the public events related to the LGBTI community. Towards the end of 2018 TranFformA is launching the second project, which is still ongoing. As advocacy training continue, creative activism workshops and working groups are organized, as well as an advocacy team in collaboration with members of other partner organizations and supporters. During this period, TransFormA is in the process of preparing an official registration of its organization in order to represent and protect the rights of transgender people in North Macedonia.
This year, TransFormA has organized a week-long campaign to mark the International Transgender Day of Visibility in North Macedonia. On this occasion, on 31.03.2019, the Trans Visibility March was organized for the first time in the center of Skopje, in order to increase the visibility of the transgender community and to raise the awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society.